Pressing Notes

Three Days of the Condor is unique in that it has the entire opening credits sequence in 2.35:1 widescreen. It's
not what we now know as widescreen however, and uses the Paramount Pictures standard "lattice work" pattern to fill out
the area now called "black bars". It makes you feel like there is too much going on on the screen and is most
distracting, especially when it shows off every dropout on the screen. Paramount did similar things with many of
their films when transferring them to video. Specific examples which come to mind are The Big Bus, Romeo
and Juliet and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The last DiscoVision catalog appearance for Condor was
the October 1980 update.

The video transfer of Three Days of the Condor is sharp and clear. However there are variations in the color
balance from shot to shot, some are too high in contrast, while others appear too blue. The audio transfer is capable
of some very wide ranges, but there is an annoying ground hum which pops up every so often. It's most noticeable
during the quiet passages of the film. Replication is only average. Most sides have varying degrees of speckling.